What about Longview? Tyler? Palestine?....relocating...HELP!!! (Dallas, Fort Worth: appointed, real estate)

[calimom5]

If you have gone to other Texas posts I am all over the place! Because we are not sure where to move (from So Cal). We want good schools...friendly people...low crime....cheap houses (who doesn't want all of this right?)...good church...my in laws are pretty set on Palestine or Rusk. I hear that is in the boonies. I am a real estate appraiser and need to be near a semi-big city...i don't mind driving but I am not sure I can come from So Cal and go to the middle of nowhere, no matter how green it is!!!! Any suggestions would be great. Here are some specifics...we don't care about the heat...we live near the desert and are used to 100 degree summers for 3 or 4 months. We want the demographics to be different than California (even if that sounds racist...not meant to be, but we are both teachers as well and know what bilingual education does to drain the Cali schools of $$$$)...anyway...we have three teenagers who don 't like the idea of moving but will settle wherever we decide...daughter wants horses...are there stables or riding clubs or somewhere she can ride if we get a house with a teeny lot? Just trying to make everyone happy.

Great schools and safe community are most important to me. And we would IDEALLY like to spend under $300K for a house...I know the taxes are higher...that is shocking...but we can adapt I am sure!!!

[SK7]

Here is my opinion...look at North East Tarrant County area...Southlake Carroll is one of the highest rated school districts in Texas. All of their schools are exemplary except for one. They also have homes with land (a couple of acres or more). There are places where you can board horses and ride them also. Southlake was all farm land for years and years but has really taken off in the past 5 to 7 years. They have an amazing town square with fantastic shopping etc. There are no apartments in Southlake. Only high end lofts. Just an interesting bit of information. You'll have to find a deal there though. Everyone wants the school district. Another one is Grapevine Colleyville ISD. If you go this route, try to find a home where the kids can go to Colleyville Heritage High School instead of Grapevine. It is consider much better. As far as the other cities you listed, I stayed in Palestine for a while. It is a small town with not a lot going on. They say you either work for the jail or the hospital. The people I knew from there couldn't wait to get out. Those cities, although they are nice little cities, are just so back woods to me...and I was born in Fort Worth if that tells you anything. My husband was born in LA and raised in Orange County. We've past through all of these cities and I can tell you that he found them very depressing. I would check out the city websites and the ISD websites if you haven't already. There is alot of helpful information on them. They can tell you salary median info, ethnicity info for the schools etc. Hope I helped you some.

[Guingirl]

Come check it out! You said your whole family was moving out, have your parents looked out in the Fort Worth area? If they have already decided it might be tough to look elsewhere.

I know, we researched for a year and one of our main concerns was commuting to the airport for my hubby, my mom ended up finding a house in Saginaw (which was perfect for her) but limited our purchase to a particular area that wasn't too far from her. So it did limit our search.

Not sure if you are aware but there is a great site called www.greatschools.com that will help you with some parental reviews of different schools.

[kawgpz550]

We are also relocating to Texas asap. We have lived in Arizona for almost 20 years and are sick of the desert, sick of the heat and sick of the cost of living. We have been also looking at East Texas around Tyler. I think you would all be MORE than happy in the Tyler area...however, if at all possible, try to stay out of the Tyler schools district. If you must be in Tyler make sure you are in Robert E Lee High school dist and not John Tyler High. You woul be much better off looking in Lindale (this is MY first choice and about 10 miles north of Tyler...easy commute...GREAT SCHOOLS!), Whitehouse (about 10 miles south of Tyler...easy commute....GREAT SCHOOLS Whitehouse seems a bit more "upscale" and a lot of $$$), Troup (19 miles south of Tyler, again GREAT SCHOOLS!). There are other areas around Tyler that have pretty decent schools, however STAY AWAY from Chapel Hill ISD!!
WE were in Tyler in July and we absolutely LOVED IT! But at this point, we would LOVE anything that wasn't brown, dusty HOT desert! Do consider the Tyler area though, I don't think you'll be disappointed!
Also, Longivew is pretty nice as well. We also visted that area as well. I do not know quite as much about Longview area as I do about the Tyler area, but I know that Spring Hill ISD and White Oak ISD are VERY GOOD in the Longvire area, so look for something in those ISD's.
If there is anything else I can help you with ask away. I won't be able to offer too much info as I do not personally live there...yet...lol. But I will answer what I can!
By the way, you're in southern calif. so I'm sure you know of Laughlin Nevada/Bullhead City Arizona...that's where I live, so I very much understand what you're trying to get away from!
Good Luck!

[Saymas]

Kawgpz500 gave good recon on East Texas. Forests; land, lakes no congestion great hospitals. Tyler and Longview are the bigger towns with about 70,000-80,000 pop. East Texas is beginning to be noticed as a great place to retire. Hot in summer but winters are mild with maybe 8 icy or snow/sleet in winter. Easy commute to almost anywhere. Longview is 60 miles from Shreveport and about 1:45 to downtown Dallas. Yes on schools to consider and avoid. Longview HS has new Super coming in and maybe will make adjustments to that large football power school. Consider Pine Tree H.s as well for great education. Good Luck

[StillMissingNC]

I don't know whether you are set on Texas or not, but if you are open to other locations, there is a really good forum for the NC Triangle Area and there is one participant that is moving from Marrieta CA to the triangle area who might be of some help to you. She goes by (ha) Lizardlips and according to her public profile, she has 19 and 21 yr old kids (so she has been through a lot of the same stuff) and her husband is in the UC (school?)system. In addition, there are a lot of other CA's moving to the Raleigh area. Hope that this might help and good luck.

[kwiley1221]

Originally Posted by Saymas

Kawgpz500 gave good recon on East Texas.

I'd second that KAWgpz's comments as well. Whitehouse is great area close to Tyler. I don't particularly like Palestine and if you're looking that far into East Texas, you should also consider Athens. It's maybe 30 minutes SW of Tyler, maybe 2 hours SE of Dallas, and has some pretty popular lakes nearby. It's a very nice town. I love East Texas with the tall pine trees, beautiful lakes, etc...It's a stark contrast to the flat, treeless image you see in other areas of the state like west Texas.

If you're looking at the DFW area, I saw someone mentioned Southlake...very nice...The schools north of Dallas are all pretty good (I'd stay away from DISD schools). Lewisville, Flower Mound, Allen, Frisco, Little Elm, McKinney, and Plano schools are all above average. Real Estate in these areas is affordable and these will remain popular areas for some time to come.

No matter which area you choose, you should be able to get a lot of house, and possibly a couple of acres, depending upon exactly where - if 300k is your ceiling.

Good luck.

[UNT_Eagle]

I lived in both Tyler and Longview areas for a short time and being from the Dallas area, it was extremely hard finding a job in Tyler. I will say that East Texas has some of the most beautiful scenery in the state, but if you do decide to relocate there, look into Lindale which is about 15-20 min. north. They have a wonderful school system( I was a substitute teacher there for a little while). Parts of S. Tyler are very nice and new but expect a little traffic.
Longview is MUCH more laid back than Tyler but the people there are so polite and friendly, even more so than Tyler. You can get to Dallas in about 1 1/2 hours from Tyler if you ever miss the big city. I can't comment on Palestine but I have visited there as a kid and it was fun, but I don't know about their economy .

[Lakewooder]

Originally Posted by kwiley1221

. (I'd stay away from DISD schools).

Whatever you do, don't listen to this tommyrot!

Dallas has more good schools than many of the suburban districts. Check out Newsweeks' Best Schools, Texas Monthly's Best Schools and DMagzine's ratings.

[Lakewooder]

If you are set on something rural, you might look at Athens. There's a monied Dallas crowd around there...

One of my high school classmates is one of the richest men in Texas and he lives in Athens and sent his sons to the public schools.

I have another classmate (a Veterinarian with 4 kids) who lives in Flint, near Tyler - he seems to be pleased with the area.

From an investment point of view you may have good appreciation in the Lake Texoma area north of Dallas. Not too sure about the schools.